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FILE - This Aug. 15, 2012 file photo shows Washington Police Chief Cathy Lanier meeting with reporters in Washington. Washington's murder rate was approaching nearly 500 slayings a year in the early 1990s, the annual rate has gradually declined to the point that the city is now on the verge of a once-unthinkable milestone. The number of 2012 killings in the District of Columbia stands at 78 and is on pace to finish lower than 100 for the first time since 1963, police records show. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)
/ AP